The same Times Argus (Jan. 24) in which the editorial mused on the idea of making judges aware of the cost effects of their decisions, featured a lengthy article about the fatal crash in Rutland caused by a young fellow ďhuffingĒ Dust-Off while driving.

A girl was killed, a young man, not particularly intending to kill anyone, may have to spend the rest of his life in prison. Letís say that would be 50 years. According to the editorial, the price of justice in a 20-year sentence would be $900,000. Do the math for 50 years. This amount would be borne by the taxpayers.

Apparently, the young man in Rutland was unemployed and idle. He may well have been been growing up on the edge of, or in, the same sick culture as exists in other towns and cities around the nation where young people are rudderless, or just bored, or angry, or even desperate.

That culture is ignored, neglected, or attacked by authorities who, it seems to me, have neither wisdom nor compassion.

We, the taxpayers, allow that culture to get sicker and sicker. So letís say itís fair that we pay the price for the scapegoats to rot in prison.